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31.5.07

Man dies after being hit by fallen branch near Tree Top Walk

By Gamar Abdul Aziz/Suzanne Ho, Channel NewsAsia 31 May 2007

SINGAPORE: Another death by a broken tree branch – a Vietnamese man in his 20s was killed when he was struck by a fallen branch on Thursday afternoon.

The incident happened at the exit of the Tree Top Walk trail (Petaling Trail) near MacRitchie Reservoir at the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to NParks, the man was with his brother and three other friends at the time of the accident but the rest were not injured.

It was also raining heavily and the wind was strong at the time of the incident.

The branch is from a big forest tree, estimated to be 30m tall and is known as Litsea.

The police are investigating the case.

NParks says its standard practice is to close the gate to the Tree Top Walk during bad weather.

And in this case, the gate was closed when it started to drizzle, but unfortunately the group involved in the incident had already passed through.

NParks says it is very saddened by this incident and conveys its condolences to the family of the deceased.

NParks reminds the public to exercise caution when walking in forested areas during bad weather.

NParks will be conducting further checks on the safety of that area and the Tree Top Walk will be closed to the public until Saturday, 9 June.

It adds that it will continue to maintain vigilance in its checks on trees to ensure that they are safe.

Just over two weeks ago a woman was killed and two of her friends injured, when an Albizia tree in the Bukit Batok Nature Reserve collapsed on them.

On the same day, a Singaporean man died in Mount Ophir in Johor, when a tree fell on him.

And five days later, another man died in the same way, also on Mount Ophir. - CNA/yy